The Vampire Diaries: "The End of the Affair"Review

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Klaus takes Stefan on a flashback to the 1920s.

By Diana Steenbergen

The first two seasons of The Vampire Diaries burned through storylines at a breakneck speed, but it was inevitable that the show would slow down eventually. In "The End of The Affair" we were still given plenty of information, and some surprising twists, but the pace has definitely been more deliberate so far in Season 3. The lightening-quick pace of the previous seasons was one of the biggest factors in making the show so much fun, but if the storylines are given more time to develop they have the potential to pack a deeper emotional punch, without relying so heavily on shock value.

"The End of The Affair" was extremely flashback heavy and the scenes in the 1920's contained an unexpected amount of information, which would explain why there were only two major plotlines rather than the usual three to four. This particular episode, with its potentially game-changing revelations, benefited by focusing in on half the usual number of characters.

Klaus's tour of the 1920s initially felt like another attempt to show a dark side of Stefan without overly tarnishing his current character, but things took a definite turn when Stefan realized that he had previously known Klaus and his sister Rebekah (Claire Holt), yet couldn't remember anything about it. Finding out that Klaus had compelled Stefan to forget about him and Rebekah was the most intriguing turn we have had in this storyline so far. The discovery of their past friendship had the added benefit of clearing up why in last season's finale Klaus was so insistent that Stefan join him.

Paul Wesley has made subtle changes to Stefan this season; while he may not be as far on the dark side as expected, he is not the same, sensitive Stefan we knew before. His angry speech telling Elena to leave him alone was more convincing this time around than it has been in the past, and Elena seemed as if she may have gotten the message. When Stefan's memories returned, it was the first time I believed there was a chance Stefan might truly align himself with Klaus.

In addition, with Rebekah as a former flame of Stefan's, there is finally a twist in the love triangle between Stefan, Elena and Damon that doesn't involve Nina Dobrev playing two roles. To this point Stefan's association with Klaus was solely to protect Elena and Damon, but what will change now that he was given back his memories of a relationship with Rebekah and a friendship with Klaus? It was noteworthy that he called Klaus his brother in the flashback. A parallel to the choice Stefan has in front of him was Rebekah choosing Stefan over her own brother, a choice that got her impaled and trapped in a coffin by Klaus all those years ago.

Similar to last week, when they hunted for Stefan in the mountains full of werewolves on the night of a full moon, Damon and Elena had another annoyingly terrible plan for rescuing Stefan when they arrived in Chicago. Specifically: no plan at all. It was especially ridiculous for Damon to leave Elena in Stefan's apartment alone. Sure, Elena hiding in Stefan's secret room, standing in front of his list of victims while Klaus was outside was a compelling scene. Klaus's intent was to remind Stefan of his brutality, but Elena undermined that by her presence. However, it was lazy writing to make the characters act stupidly just to set up a particular scene. At least Damon had the good sense to admit it was a bad idea, and he even looked upset with himself for being an idiot.

In the B plot, we saw more of Jack Coleman as Caroline's not at all sympathetic father, whose method of saving his daughter involved torture and aversion therapy. Vampire Diaries just loves to put Caroline through the wringer, and this episode was another tough one for her. Thank goodness Tyler had the sense to recruit Liz for a rescue mission, I couldn't take much more of the pain and suffering that Caroline was a going through, even though Coleman and Candice Accola made the tragedy in those scenes work. Heartbreakingly enough, in the end what she was sad about was not the torture itself, but the fact that her father had rejected her.

The show continued to prove that they make good casting decisions when Sebastian Roche (Supernatural, Fringe) showed up near the end. Since he was the person who scared Original vampires Klaus and Rebekah enough that they ran away, I can't wait to see more of him.